Passage Analysis - Eddie

About five o’clock our procession of three cars reached the cemetery and stopped in a thick drizzle beside the gate—first a motor hearse, horribly black and wet, then Mr. Gatz and the minister and I in the limousine, and a little later four or five servants and the postman from West Egg in Gatsby’s station wagon, all wet to the skin. As we started through the gate into the cemetery I heard a car stop and then the sound of someone splashing after us over the soggy ground. I looked around. It was the man with owl-eyed glasses whom I had found marvelling over Gatsby’s books in the library one night three months before.
I’d never seen him since then. I don’t know how he knew about the funeral, or even his name. The rain poured down his thick glasses, and he took them off and wiped them to see the protecting canvas unrolled from Gatsby’s grave. (Fitzgerald 182-183)

In this passage, Fitzgerald creates an atmosphere of mourning in the wake of Gatsby’s death, while also employing his motif of the eyes of God. This portion of the novel, The Great Gatsby, is essential to building Gatsby’s character as a mortal human, rather than an idealized figure.

In order to build the depressing imagery of this passage, Fitzgerald uses recurring references to wetness. He begins by using pathetic fallacy, as the scene takes place in a “thick drizzle” (Fitzgerald 182). This image is furthered by the “horribly black and wet” motor hearse and the all the characters in the passage being soaked “wet to the skin” (Fitzgerald 182). Additionally, Fitzgerald reinforces this visual imagery by using sound imagery; he uses alliteration, stating that Nick “heard a car stop and then the sound of someone splashing after us over the soggy ground” (Fitzgerald 182). It is clear that Fitzgerald is using water to symbolize emotion; even Owl Eyes has rain “pour[ing] down his glasses,” thus clouding his vision (Fitzgerald 183).

The appearance of Owl Eyes in this chapter is used by Fitzgerald to further his theme of an omnipresent, watching God. Similar to the eyes of T.J. Eckleburg, the man with the owl-eyed glasses represents a mysterious overseer. Fitzgerald uses Owl Eyes to assert that Gatsby cannot escape the eyes of God, even in death. Yet, Owl Eyes needs to take off his glasses and “[wipe] them to see... Gatsby” (Fitzgerald 183). Through this action, Fitzgerald is stating that even God is mourning for the loss of Gatsby.

Overall, the purpose of this passage is to build Gatsby’s character by showing the reader that he is a human, rather than an idol. Fitzgerald uses this passage to show a pitiful side of Gatsby, as his glamorous days are over.